Let's get to our favorite column of the week. We choose 1) the best overall Premier League matchup, 2) the most "fantasy friendly" Premier League matchup and 3) an analysis of "Studs" and "Duds" for fantasy footie managers to agree (and disagree) on...
But first, we have some very exciting news to announce. Next week we will be holding our first ever "Butt Buddies Battle of Brilliance," a player prediction competition that is going to be sponsored by online superstore SoccerPro.
The winner of the competition will receive a $20 gift certificate to the Soccer Pro website, where he/she can purchase their favorite Premier League kits, buy some new boots, or get kicking outside with some new balls. We hope this will be the start of a great relationship with Soccer Pro, and want to thank them in advance for offering the loyal readers of Never Captain Nicky Butt a chance at winning a small but exciting prize.
Of course, if you win the Butt Buddies Battle of Brilliance, you will be rewarded with more than just a chance to get some gear at SoccerPro, you will have the bragging rights as the first ever Brilliant Butt Reader. Details of the contest will be posted this coming Monday (October 27th).
I. Liverpool @ Chelsea: Two undefeated teams at the top of the Premier League square off at Stamford Bridge. Bell-end Benitez is contemplating rushing Torres back into action despite his hamstring problem. Diver Didier Drogba should again miss out due to injury for the Blues. Injuries aside, Chelsea haven't been beaten at home in over four years, and that unbeaten run looks set to continue on Sunday as long as Torres remains a major doubt.
Those Frank Lampard owners who (for some reason) don't own Ronaldo may consider taking the Captain's Armband away from the in-form Chelsea hero. But free kicks are free kicks, penalties are penalties, and strange deflected goals are strange deflected goals. Those three Lampard specialties (and the prospect of a bonus point or two if Chelsea pull out a victory) should not be forgotten. I am on a Frank high. I admit it. He is dreamy. My girlfriend is into him.
Prediction: 2 - 0 Chelsea
II. Stoke @ Manchester City: This is pretty fantasy friendly my friends. I can see Portsmouth exploding at home to Fulham, and while the Potters will surely be visiting Eastlands on a high after their exceptional 2-1 win over Spurs, I can't bet against the Brazilians out-classing what is essentially an excellent Coca-Cola Championship side.
Mark Hughes will be incredibly disappointed after City's 2-2 draw against Newcastle, but with Ireland, Robinho, Jo, and SWP leading the attack, the men in blue should ease to a comfortable victory. Though Micah Richards will not be available (strained ankle ligaments), the bargain shopping in City's defense (Kompany playing out of position and Garrido available at 4.3MM) looks strong.
Prediction: 4 - 1 Manchester City
III. Value Studs: Stephen Ireland (6.2MM) and Bolton's Matty Taylor (5.7MM). Taylor, Bolton's set piece specialist, squares off against a suspect Tottenham defense short on confidence. Sticking with the Botlon theme, Kevin Davies (6.0MM) is only 3% owned but could be an interesting alternative to Carlton Cole based on upcoming fixtures for managers looking to save money in the attack to spend it elsewhere.
Surprise Studs: Hull's goalkeeper Boaz Myhill (4.1MM) has kept two clean sheets in a row, and faces off against WBA. He could be a great replacement for Fulham's Mark Schwarzer as either a backup option or part-time starter. Christopher Samba (5.4MM) faces off against Boro at home, and has kept 2 clean sheets and scored a goal in his last four matches. Perhaps Alex owners could swap for Blackburn's destroyer as a short-term massive Congolese surprise punt.
Duds: Blog favorite Armand Traore. Traore picked up a knock today in Portsmouth's loss. With Liverpool on the horizon after Fulham, and Niko Kranjcar returning to fitness, has the speedy Arsenal loanee's run in the side come to an end? If I were Redknapp I would play both Niko (on the right) and Traore (on the left) while dropping Coca-Cola Championship caliber Glen Little to the bench, but I'm no Redknapp, so Traore owners should be slightly worried here.
Gareth Barry is a definite dud. Somehow he is still owned by 11% of teams! Please, Barry owners, your prized penalty kick specialist has recently been playing left back. Pick up Ashley Young instead.
Other studs or duds? Let us know. Good luck this weekend, and get ready for an exciting competition on Monday.
Weekend Update: Blog favorite A. Traore looks set to shake off his thigh injury. It will be interesting to see how Portsmouth perform with Redknapp leaving for big money at Tottenham, and likewise, how Tottenham play without Ramos.
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35 comments:
Samba is a great sleeper pick. But beware. I've watched enough Rovers games to know that the D is inconsistant at best.
'Boro has lost something like four in a row and they just got humiliated last week, this is not a great time for my Rovers to be playing them.
After Boro, Blackburn plays @AV,
@WBA and Chelsea.
So now that I've talked you all out of Samba I'm going to tell you that your captain should be Amir Zaki, because I'll make sure that he fathers my children.
so, your girlfriend is into fat dudes? That pic doesn't look like Frank though, it looks like Muse frontman Matt Bellamy.
Anyway, Torres is definitely out, but I still think Liverpool snatch a draw.
I'm looking for a statement game for Chelsea. Look for a 2-0, 3-0 type of game
verbal97-
Matt Bellamy = no relation to in-form Welsh striker Craig Bellamy who could spoil Arsenal's clean sheet this weekend.
I think Traore will continue to play. Harry has already indicated that he's extremely pleased with him, and that Kranjcar can play all sorts of positions when he returns. It also seems to be a condition of his loan agreement that he plays regularly, if you read between the lines.
Traore can also play LB, of course. Belhadj has been on the bench for the last two games, replaced by part-timer Pamarot. If Kranjcar has to play on the left, Traore may well move back to LB, and would still be a good value pick.
No guarantees, of course. But I'm keeping him until he actually finds himself on the bench... should that ever be the case.
Silent Jay -
Great point. What do you think about Niko? His value has dropped due to injury to 6.1 (from 6.5) and though he may not be a "better" choice than Ireland, he certainly seems competitive with Denilson and maybe even Bullard. I think he could be a great value selection in the Ireland-range.
My team
Van Der Sar
Bosingwa Kompany Garrido
Ireland CRon Lampard Young Arteta
Zaki C. Cole
My Team:
Ferdinand--A.Cole--Boswinga
Wright-Phillips--Eboue--Giovanni--Arteta
Defoe--Adebayor--Zaki(c)
VDS in Goal as well
Actually, no, I'm not into him. I have a thing for Steven Gerrard.
I'm more of an Alex Curran guy myself.
ibracadabra -
If Kranjcar continues to improve, he should be good value. Especially since he has two excellent targets up front in Crouch and Defoe, which should help his assists tally.
According to his stats he had almost 2 shots on goal per game last season. 56 in 31 games. (100 shots at goal.) That's a ton! If he can convert a few more of those than he has so far, he should get at least 6-7 goals and assists (each) the rest of the way. He needs to get back to 100% of course.
But even if he doesn't improve much, he's about on par with Bullard, who's great in the Yahoo game, but doesn't put up an awful lot of goals/assists - or bonus points so far this season. (And the manager apparently doesn't think much of him, which is worrying. He'll be moving on in the transfer window. Until then I don't think he's worth his price tag.)
Ireland - he keeps getting on the score sheet... somehow. Is he really that good all of a sudden? Or has he just been getting lucky a lot? The lack of bonus points seems to indicate the latter. He put up similar stats to Niko's last season. But has FAR more competition for a job. Is he gonna hold of Elano AND Petrov?
Denilson - he's been involved in exactly zero of Arsenal's 14 goals in the last 5 games (incl. CL), and has only 1 bonus point all season. Looks like a similar story to Ireland. And I think I read somewhere that he has to play more defensively now.
Wow. I don't seem to have a life, lol.
@ Jay re: Ireland.
City's midfield situation begs a lot of questions, but i really don't think the status Ireland's starting role is one of them - especially with Petrov out for 4 more months. Despite his lack of bonus points, I think he and SWP are the key palyers in city's offensive build-up. Perhaps his contributions are overshadowed by SWP and Robinho? Who knows...
Why Elano is out of favor in central midfield, though, is beyond me. With someone like Kompany holding, what is Hamann's role??
@ Ibra:
I'm captaining Jermaine Defoe this week.
Jay -
Good stuff. I think that the mid-tier hierarchy is probably Ireland - Niko - Bullard - Denilson for now without getting to "Expensive" options in the 8 range or "cheap" options in the 5 range.
Stepovers - Defoe is a decent selection at home to Fulham, but remember that Pompey have only scored 19 goals in their last 19 home games. At best, you are hoping for 1 goal from the tiny speedster. Will you be kicking yourself when Ronaldo bags a goal and an assist at Everton?
stepovers -
Didn't realize Petrov was out again. Didn't he just return?? (For the most part I only keep up with the players I have, or I'm interested in. As well as general news, of course. Didn't see him mentioned anywhere.)
That pretty much guarantees Ireland his place, of course. (Rather than being rotated.) But I'll eat my hat if he keeps up his current scoring rate.
Chaps, I cant believe no one has mentioned Wigan's Antonio Valencia in the 6 million-ish midfielders thread.. He already has two goals and two assists this season, plus 7bonus points. Ok he might be a bit card happy at the moment but someone has got to set up Zakis 20 plus goals this season... right? Im sticking with him as my 6 million mid for the time being.
Any news on Traore yet? Hes still in my starting XI; I didnt think it was worth losing four points to bring in another starting player else where.
My team this week;
Carson
Bosingwa Kompany A. Traore Laursen
CRon (c) Lampard SWP
Berbatov Zaki C. Cole
What do you think of Carson as a good value buy? He is currently joint top scoring goal keeper and WBA seem fairly solid at the back?
Traore should play. Glen Johnson, unfortunately, looks like he won't make it. (I have both.)
Olly -
Great point. Valencia was one of the three "value plays" we blogged about back in Sept (with Cole and Traore)he just fell out of mind after his Red Card. I think he is definitely in the Ireland bracket and offers way more than Denilson does. (Denilson should not be owned anymore. Take the price rise and run.)
As for Carson, he enters a difficult stretch with Chelsea and Liverpool in his next four, but could be a "differentiator" selection amongst your peers.
The common wisdom has always been to go for a "Top 4" keeper for guaranteed clean sheets or a "cheaper" keeper in form or playing the matchups, but often top mid-priced performers get overlooked.
Mid-priced performers can finish the season as top picks though as Friedel showed with Blackburn and Howard with Everton, and to a lesser extent (he was closer to "premium priced" - James with Portsmouth) I think Carson will end the season near the top of the value category, but if you can either free up a million to upgrade to Van Der Sar at 6 or maybe even drop a million to go to Myhill at 4, you probably won't improve your team substantially depending on your team tinkering.
This WBA - Hull match is incredible. No joke. End to end brilliance.
should i replace denilson with geovanni??
@ Jetts -
Ireland's price should continue to increase, so you could jump on that for the short-term price gain.
Valencia should out-perform Denilson in the long run due to Arsenal's rotation and a more defensive role for the young Brazilian.
Geovanni scored about 1 in every 5 games at Benfica, so you should expect similar returns (8-10 goals on the "high" side).
Go for Geovanni or Valencia.
If you want to get cheeky, look at Kieran Richardson (6.0 and in form) or Niko coming back soon for Portsmouth in the same range.
thanks, i think i'll go for valencia as i already have ireland and hull's fixtures dont look too good
Ibracadabra -
I even think Valencia will be a better option than Ireland. Granted he has had a brilliant start to the season, but I cant see him scoring that many points consistently with SWP, Jo, Robinho, Elano etc in the same side. Valencia stands out in a good Wigan side who have got a fairly decent fixture list coming up.
Thanks for the advice, I moved Carson in to free up some cash to spend in the midfield. Im also planning on bringing in a Hull defender for Laursen so I didnt want to have their keeper as well. Do you think sacrificing a slightly weaker defence for a brilliant midfield is the best long term strategy? I scored 2300 points last season mainly playing 4,5,1 (rotating forwards depending on fixtures) but the prices of all last years 'stud' defenders and forwards have shot up this season.
One last thing.. Whats going on with the whole Redknapp - Tottenham situation??! Is it time to jump on the bargain Spurs boys?
redknapp's gone to tottenham, but I'll wait for a bit and see before putting any spurs players
"Do you think sacrificing a slightly weaker defence for a brilliant midfield is the best long term strategy?"
I had NO defence last season, lol. Still scored 2218 points with a strong midfield/attack. (I picked up Laursen for 4.5, which was of course the bargain of the season. But I don't think I had a defender over 5.0 during the second half.)
I don't like investing too much in defense. Mistakes from other players are gonna cost my defenders points. It's friggin' annoying. I'd rather invest my money in players which hold their fate in their own hands... more or less.
Right now I'm going with one elite defender (Arbeloa), who I can play every week, and 4 cheapos to rotate depending on matchup. And Arbeloa is still just about the cheapest elite option there is. I also have Glen Johnson at 5.4, but looking to replace him to free up some money. Especially since he's injured now. (Which is rather disappointing, playing at home to Fulham today.)
Harry to Spurs? Really? That sux. I like Harry... and Portsmouth. Tottenham not so much.
Spurs must be paying Pompey a pile of cash for him, though.
imagine what defoe thinks about this
Hat-trick for Robinho! I almost dropped him for someone cheaper a couple of weeks ago, but didn't want to spend the 4 points for an extra transfer. Didn't drop him at home to Stoke this week either, of course. And there he goes, repaying my reluctant faith with 4 goals and an assist in two games. If only it would always work out that way...
They gave Adebayor an assist on an own goal? Anybody else think this is bullshit?
i had robinho, but had defoe as captain, i can't believe he didnt get a single bonus point. the system sucks
Defoe should have had bonus points this weekend.
A post on how bonus points work might be worth lookign at.. they can be a bit random
On Spurs, once they get through losing to arsenal and liverpool bentley should be a bargain buy
Newpass,
I was thinking the same thing. Bentley and Modric hurt me earlier in the season, but they could be good pickups once theyre done with these tough fixtures.
Anybody check out Liverpool's upcoming schedule? Get Arbeloa and Agger. Now. (Or Carragher if you wanna spend the extra 1.0.)
Wow, nice catch Jay. I would certainly love to pick up Arbeloa, but I like the fixtures of 4 of my defenders (Traore, Olsson, Laursen, and Figueroa) and I plan on riding the Turner money train a little longer since I picked him up at 4.5. Looks like a tough decision awaits me. With Liverpool playing Portsmouth this week, I think I may wait until after this gameweek to decide how to play it.
Don't wait too long. Being the cheapest "elite" options (with Skrtel out, and Neville/Brown rotating), their prices should increase sooner rather than later.
I made an extra transfer to bring in Agger (for Figueroa) before his price goes up. I was able to just squeeze him in. Now I just gotta hope that he plays.
But Rafa has been remarkably rotation-reluctant this season, and it's paid off. So why go back to the inconsistency of the last couple of seasons? Surely he's learned his lesson by now? (Not to mention that the only alternative is old man Hyypia at the moment.)
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